Zermatt

9/3 – Day 5: The Matterhorn!!

Ok…this post is going to have A LOT of pictures…. and 90% of them will probably have the Matterhorn in them. I’m too lazy to look through the 300+ pictures we took today and choose only the best ones.

So..as I mentioned in my last post, we decided to call an audible on today. The weather forecast starting on Thursday looks to be terrible for at least one week…and Tuesday and Wednesday are looking terrific. So instead of walking around Bern today, we decided to go down to Zermatt instead to take advantage of the clear skies and sun!

Our day started with an early morning bus, train, and tram from Luzern to Bern. We quickly dropped off our bags and got our daypack ready to go, and then trammed our way back to the train station to make the 2 hr trip down to Zermatt. After starting our travels at 7:20, we finally made it into Zermatt at 12:15.

Once there, we caught our first glimpse of the Matterhorn in the village, and then made our way to the Sunnegga funicular and then Blauherd gondola to the start of our hike.

The first part of our hike was the 5 Seenweg trail (5 lakes), although our plan was to only see the first 3 and then peel off to another trail. This was a pretty easy hike, and wasn’t too long in distance (not sure how much) but it took us almost 3 hrs because the scenery was absolutely amazing, and we (I) felt the need to stop every minute to take another picture.

The first lake, Stellisee, offered us a fantastic view of the Matterhorn behind it, and this is where we stopped to eat our lunch.

Before arriving at the 2nd lake, we were able to catch a glimpse of the 4th lake, Moosjisee, which offered an amazing greenish-blue color to it.

The 2nd lake, Grindjisee, reflected the Matterhorn in its waters.

And finally, Grunsee, well..it really didn’t have much about it to say.

The second part of our hike was where it got real on our legs! After Grunsee, we turned off the trail onto the Weg der Still trail up to the Gornergrat, which on most trail maps and guides tell you is a 1 hr hike down. Well, we (I) wanted to go up the 3 mile trail, which gained about 2700 ft in elevation! This was no easy task, as there was little shade and the sun was coming down on us..but since we were between 7-10K in elevation, at least the air was nice and cool. Steepness kills though, especially after you’ve been traveling for 5 hrs, then hiking for another 3 beforehand. But we made it to the top in under 2 hrs!

We spent a little over an hour at the top, checking out more breathtaking views and taking more pictures with our toblerone bar – before taking the cogwheel train back down into Zermatt.